The Pride of The Marines is a 1944 movie about Marine Al Schmid his role in the Battle of the Tenaru/Ilu River and recovery from wounds suffered in that confrontation. As the nephew of P.F.C. John Rivers U.S.M.C.R. a member of the same machine gun crew as Schmid; Why did Private Schmid receive the bulk of credit for the happenings of that night. Why weren't he(Rivers) and Corporal Diamond granted the same accolades. Both were awarded the Navy Cross but little or no mention of their presence or deeds are mentioned in contemporary accounts. I've considered this forever. However, a theory of how this came to be has on my mind for quite some time; just no way to confirm it. That's about to change! Through a happy set of circumstances I met Australian native Peter Flavigan( Pacific War Expert Extraordinaire) and noted military author Bill Bartsch who both pointed me in the right direction then gave me a kick in the ass. Which landed me a phone call from Leroy Diamond and an invite to his NYC home! Now the story will be directly from the horses mouth with no political or media filtering. I will be interviewing and video recording Corporal Leroy Diamond U.S.M.C.(retired) remembrances of his part in the Battle of the Tenaru/Ilu river. He is the last surviving member of the trio (then Private) Sargent Al Schmid, P.F.C. John Rivers and Corporal Leroy Diamond who were credited with the elimination of over 200 members of The Elite Ichiki Regiment. Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki's human wave attacks had been successful since the start of the Pacific War. This was their first and last defeat. Their unit was so decimated Colonel Ichiki ordered the few survivors to burn the outfit's colors then committed seppuku(ritual suicide). Ironically, Corporal Diamond was the old man of the trio; often referred to as "Pops". Diamond who will shortly turn 93 is still sharp witted and remembers the battle as if it happened yesterday. We spoke on the phone for over an hour. Hopefully, the interview will be allowed to be posted on this site. For those of you interested I will be burning DVDs.

I am the granddaughter of Mr. Diamond and after reading the 10/20/09 post by DRBOGO it brought tears to my eyes.
I would love to receive a DVD copy of the interview...if still possible.
Would love to hear from anyone with any other information regarding my grandfather.